President Trump announced an executive order on Sept. 21 to enforce economic sanctions on North Korea and countries that do business with the “rogue regime” of North Korea. (The Washington Post)
In the latest war of words between President Trump and North Korea, Kim Jong Un did not pull any punches.
“I will surely and definitely tame the mentally deranged U.S. dotard with fire,” he declared in an unusually direct and angry statement published Thursday by North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency.
The North Korean leader’s warning about “fire,” which echoed Trump’s August statement threatening “fire and fury,” was par for the course in their increasingly tense relationship. On Thursday, Trump announced new financial sanctions to further isolate the country as its nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities rapidly escalate.
But Kim’s use of “dotard” was what raised eyebrows, prompting people around the world to Google the unique insult. Merriam-Webster defines the noun as “as person in his or her dotage,” which is “a state or period of senile decay marked by decline of mental poise and alertness.”
Urban dictionary, meanwhile, defines dotage as “a female’s adams apple.”
Searches for the term were “high as a kite,” following the release of Kim’s statement, Merriam-Webster tweeted.
Kim Jong Un calls Trump a mentally deranged U.S. dotard. Searches for 'dotard' are high as a kite. merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dot…
The word meant “imbecile” when it was first used in the 14th century and comes from the Middle English world “doten,” meaning “to dote,” according to Merriam-Webster.
In the book, “Shakespeare’s Insults: A Pragmatic Dictionary,” the term is “linked to French radoter, which means to repeat things several times because one forgets.” It was used by the Bard in “The Merchant of Venice,” “King Lear” and other plays.
Kim used the insult not once but twice in his statement, which was a response Trump’s address Tuesday to the United Nations General Assembly, in which the U.S. president called Kim “Rocket Man” and threatened to “totally destroy North Korea.”
Here is the first time Kim uses the term:
“Action is the best option in treating the dotard who, hard of hearing, is uttering only what he wants to say.”
And the second:
“I will surely and definitely tame the mentally deranged U.S. dotard with fire.”
While the English version of Kim’s statement calls Trump a “dotard,” the Korean version calls him a “lunatic old man,” tweeted Anna Fifield, The Washington Post’s Tokyo bureau chief.
by; https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/09/21/a-short-history-of-the-word-dotard-which-north-korea-called-trump/?utm_term=.93f4bccfdbc7
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